Here's to a thousand more
by Paper and the truth
Summary: Luke's Niece Louise has moved to town with her boyfriend, who is a lot like Deacon used to be. Potential Luke, Rayna, Deacon drama please review
1. Chapter 1

"Luke" Daphne ran up and hugged him

"Hey there girlie" he said Luke, Rayna and the girls were going to meet up Luke's niece Louise and her boyfriend Mac. They arrived at the Bluebird café.

"Uncle Luke" A 23 year old girl with brown hair ran up and hugged him

"Hey Darling" he said "Lou, I would like you to meet Rayna"

"I'm a big fan Ms. Jaymes" Louise gushed

"Oh, thank you"

"And her daughters, Maddie and Daphne" the girls waved

"This is Mac" Louise introduced her boyfriend

"We hear you two sing" Mac said to the girls

"We do" Maddie said smiling "mom won't sign me to her label though"

"Well, graduate high school first" said Louise

"You sound like mom and dad and Deacon"

"As in Deacon Claybourne?" Mac asked

"The one and only" Luke said

"Oh man, I'm a big fan" Mac said

"It's true, it's pretty much him and Rayna we play…well I mean, when we're not playing Uncle Luke" They sat down and got a drink. Then they went their separate ways. Mac and Louise went to their new place, Louise went to the kitchen and saw a note on the oven

"Be careful when you open this." Mac walked in

"A warning for the oven?"

"Yeah, it's weird that it's up high" Mac kissed her "I love you"

"I love you" he said

Louise went over to Rayna's house and Luke let her in. Maddie and Daphne were singing a song with Deacon.

"Lou" Daphne said

"Hey" she said

"Deacon, I would like you to meet my niece Louise" Luke introduced "Her boyfriend is a big fan"

"Hello" he said

"Wow, you're even more handsome in person" Louise realized what she just said "Sorry, let's pretend that didn't happen"

"Well thank you" Deacon said flattered

"Do you sing?" Maddie asked Louise

"Oh, not really"

"Yes you do" Luke said

"I don't really like to. Mac, he's the one that does the singing"

Rayna walked in

"Hey Y'all" she said

"Hi. Wow, I can't believe I'm standing here with Rayna Jaymes and Deacon Claybourne. Mac would be so jealous "

"You should bring him tonight. Deacon is playing the Bluebird" Maddie said

"Yeah, bring the boy along" said Deacon

"Great" Louise said

She went home to get ready

"I am jealous. I think it's great that your Uncle is dating the Rayna Jaymes" Mac said

"Me too."

"I would love to play at the Bluebird. You should too. With your songs and my guitar skills, we could be great."

"Easy there. I think it's better for everyone if you just got up on that stage. I have no problem writing some songs for you." Mac kissed Louise. Later that night they headed to the Bluebird and Mac went to get drinks. Louise took off her sweater

"Whoa, what happened?" Luke pointed to the bruise on her arm

"Oh, the oven. It came with a warning, it's one of those high ones."

Mac walked over with the drinks and Deacon got on stage and sang a couple of songs. After he went over to the table

"You were great" Louise said

"Thank you"

"I am a huge fan sir" Mac said

"This is my boyfriend" Louise said

"Well thank you"

"I think Lou and Mac should get up on stage" said Luke

"I would love to hear you sing." Rayna piped in

"Again, Mac is the singer, not me"

"She writes amazing songs though" Mac said

"Sounds like Gunnar and Scarlett" Deacon said

"Why don't you all come back to our place" Louise offered. Everyone headed there and Louise gave them a tour of the place

"That's the dreaded oven?" Luke asked

"Yes it is" Louise said Mac held up the piece of paper with the warning on it

"Well…can you please sing us something?" Rayna asked

"Oh, I mean. Mac you go on" Louise said

"Can I sing one of your songs?" he asked

"Yeah"

"Lou, please? Rayna would love to hear you and as your Uncle I'm asking you to do it for me" Luke begged

"Fine" Louise grabbed her book "I wrote this when we first moved here, Mac went away the first weekend and I had no one" Mac grabbed his guitar and they sang. When they were done the adults were stunned

"How many songs do you have?" Rayna asked

"I have four and Mac has about five" Louise said

"If you keep writing and singing like that I might have to sign you to highway 65"

"Are you serious?" Mac said

"Yeah" she said Louise hugged Mac


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Louise woke up to someone knocking on the door. Who could it possibly be? Mac has his key, Luke would call. She got up and opened the door

"Whoa" Deacon said looking at Louise who looked like she wanted to kill him "your Uncle said you would be a sleep"

"He was correct" she said

"I brought coffee" Deacon smiled and she couldn't help, but smile too

"Who would have thought I would open my door and find you there? Mac will be jealous, I mean I told him not to go to work"

"I know it's early, well it's 9 O'clock"

"In my land 9 O'clock is early. Let me go get dressed hold on" Louise went to her room and threw on a dress and deodorant and came out

"That was fast" he said

"People think girls wear dresses to look fancy, reality is we didn't want to put that much effort in to what we wear. So what's up?"

"Your song was really good, I was wondering if I could see some more. Rayna kept going on about you two after we left"

"Yeah? Wow, I just came here to hopefully sell a song. You know, I was really proud of Juliette Barnes, when she sang Don't put Dirt On My Grave, I wish I was there, that was great"

"She got in a lot of trouble with that" Deacon said "But it certainly takes a special kind of girl to do that"

"I would love to write a song for her or with her or whatever"

"You know I can make that happen if you want, well at the very least have you meet her"

"Really? That would be great. Would you like something to eat? I can get you my book and you can read some lyrics while I make breakfast"

"Sure, that would be great" Louise got her book and handed it to Deacon and started to get out stuff to make breakfast.

"Eggs and Bacon okay? I can fry up some potatoes too?!" she asked

"perfect" Deacon looked through the book and found a song "hey what's this one about? Here's to a thousand more"

"Just a story that came to mind"

"It was hit and miss with us, we would scream and we would cuss, arguing just for old time sake" Deacon read out "You sure this isn't from personal experience?"

"Yes" she started to cook the bacon Deacon looked up at her and then back at the song. Later that day Mac came home drunk

"Lou? Hey, Lou?" he yelled and Louise walked in "Can you get me a beer?"

"It seems like you've had enough" she said

"Don't tell me what to do" He walked past her and opened the fridge

"Rayna called and she wants to meet up with us on Thursday. Deacon, he came by this morning and said I could meet Juliette" Mac was struggling to twist open the beer bottle

"God, what is this? They child proofed this thing" Mac cut his finger on the bottle

"That's not a twist off. Mac, I think you've had enough though" Mac put down the bottle and picked up the whiskey bottle and went into the living room. Just then Louise's phone rang "Hell-hello?"

"Hey Darling, is everything okay?" Luke said on the other side

"Yeah, great."

"Maddie and Daphne were wondering if you would like to hang out with them tomorrow, I said I would ask. We have to go out, so if you could stay with them. Not like baby sitting or anything"

"Yeah, sure"

"Alright, love you" he said

"Love you too"

The next day Louise met up with Juliette

"It is an honour to meet you" Louise said

"You too, Deacon said you write amazing songs"

"Well I wouldn't say amazing, but I would really like to write something for you or with you"

"Well let's see what you got. So your Uncle is Luke wheeler"

"Yep, pretty great. I was happy when he and Rayna started going out." Louise handed Juliette her book and she looked through it

"Louise, these are really great"

"You can call me Lou if you want. Everyone does. Do you think Rayna would actually sign us? I mean, Mac is really the one who does all the singing"

"Well I haven't heard y'all sing" Juliette stopped on one song "Here's to a thousand more, this is the one Deacon mentioned. Sounds like someone hurt you"

"No. Just something that popped in my head" Juliette flipped to another song

"I don't think it would be this hard, if you didn't have your charm, you must have known it would cause some harm" Juliette Read "These are good, are you sure they're not about a certain someone?" Juliette went back to reading them. Later on Louise went home

"Mac? Hey, you home?" Mac walked out

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked

"I was with Juliette I told you that, now I have to get ready and go over to Rayna's" Louise could tell he'd been drinking

"Well that was Lou, she can't come over" said Luke who put away his phone

"Oh no" said Rayna

"Why?" asked Daphne

"Something came up"

"Well, Maddie, you girls will be okay alone right?" Rayna asked

"Yeah" she said

"If you need anything don't hesitate to call, or call dad or Deacon" Rayna said and she and Luke left.

Lou opened the door and saw Deacon standing there

"Deacon, what? Why are you here?"

"WHO IS IT?" Mac Yelled just then there was a crash

"What's going on here?" Deacon asked concerned

"Nothing" Louise said just then Mac walked out drunk

"What is he doing here? Did you call him? He's a drunk too, or he was. You can't help me, I don't want you to help me, I don't need your help" Mac said

"Please go" said Louise

"Does your Uncle know about this?" Deacon asked

"No, please, I need you to go" Louise made Deacon leave


	3. Chapter 3

Thursday came and Mac and Louise were ready sing some songs for Rayna. They walked in and saw Rayna, Luke, Deacon and Bucky

"Hey" Luke said

"Hi" Mac was smiling and a completely different person. Deacon pulled Louise aside

"Is he okay?" He asked

"Yeah, Mac's fine" she said

"Lou, if there's something going on, you should let your Uncle know"

"Don't worry about it"

"What songs do you have for us?" Rayna asked

"Two of them I wrote and one that Lou wrote" said Mac who took out his guitar. They played their songs and went with Bucky to set some things up. Deacon pulled Rayna aside

"Aren't they great?" She said

"Yeah. Ray, there's something you should know" Just then Luke walked up

"What do you think?" he asked

"The next best thing" Deacon said

"What is it?" Rayna said

"Look, it's not my place to say, but I went over to their house the other day and…Mac was drunk. Like, what I used to be"

"Are you sure we're talking about the same person?" Luke asked

"Yeah, I saw it" Deacon said "Look, talk to Lou about it"

"Do you think it's going to be a problem?" asked Rayna

"Yeah" Deacon said. That night Luke took Louise out for drinks

"You're really great" he said

"Well, clearly I get it from my Uncle"

"Must be. Hey things with you and Mac are good right?"

"yeah, why?" she asked

"Nothing, it's just Deacon mentioned something about him being drunk"

"Mac drinks, I drink, clearly I'm at a bar with my Uncle right now. It's nothing to worry about" 

"You sure?"

"Positive"

The next day Louise went over to Deacon's house

"Why would you tell my Uncle about Mac? Did you tell Rayna?"

"Look I was concerned" Deacon said "I've been there"

"Well he's not you. Mac's fine, you just caught him at a bad time"

"Is that it? Why are you getting mad at me? Is there something going on?"

"No, now drop it" Louise left

Juliette and Louise worked on a new song

"I am so glad you move here" said Juliette

"Thanks, me too"

"Rayna said its official, you are part of highway 65. That's exciting"

"It is. She said we'll sing at the Opry, it's pretty scary"

"It is, even I get scared, but once you're on that stage the rush takes over and before you know it, they'll be dragging you off"

"Good". When Louise got home Mac was lying on the couch

"Hey you" he said

"Hi" she walked into the kitchen and he followed her

"Pretty cool huh? Highway 65" Louise looked at the empty whiskey bottle

"Yeah and then the Opry" she said

"What's wrong?" he asked

"Nothing, I'm just-look you have a problem"

"No I don't. I was just in a bad mood that day"

"You seem to be in bad moods a lot" she said wondering how far she could take this

"Seriously?" He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer "Lou, I'm fine" Mac went to the living room and started playing his guitar

"Did you want to work on a song? Maybe write a new one?" she asked

"Are we actually going to write a song or are you going to give me a lecture?" he was getting angry

"Forget it" Louise went to their room later on Mac was knocking on the bed room door.

"Lou, open up. What are you mad at me seriously?" Mac walked in and saw her packing a bag "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm staying with my Uncle tonight" she said Mac grabbed her bag and threw it across the room

"You're just going to leave me like that? What I hurt your feelings and suddenly you're gone? Here's to a thousand more isn't just a story, it's about us. What's the line? We both wanted out. Do you?"

Juliette was at Deacon's house

"That song we wrote was so good" she said

"Yeah" Just then there was a knock on the door and Juliette went to get it. She opened the door and saw Louise there.

"Deacon" Juliette yelled Deacon walked over and saw Louise standing there with a black eye

"Can I stay here tonight?" she asked

"What the hell happened?" Juliette asked Louise walked in

"I was going to stay with my Uncle, he got mad"

"Luke got mad?" Juliette was confused

"Mac"

"Her boyfriend" Deacon explained "He did this to you?" Louise burst into tears and Deacon comforted her.


End file.
